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2008-05-08 16:05:59

Warning: Economic Stimulus "Phishing" Scam

WARNING: ECONOMIC STIMULUS REFUND "PHISHING" SCAM!

PLEASE don't fall for this nasty hoax!
A number of authentic-looking emails are currently targeting US taxpayers by offering bogus refund payments as bait.
The message, purporting to be from the Internal Revenue Service, claims that the recipient is qualified to receive the 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund (which may, indeed, be true, but read on!).
The recipient is instructed to follow a link in the message in order to fill in an online form, ostensibly to allow the refund to be processed without delay.
The email includes the IRS logo and copyright notice and is from a seemingly genuine IRS email address.
However, the message is NOT from the IRS and is designed to trick victims into submitting personal and financial information to criminals.
Those who click on the link in the message will be taken to a bogus website that closely resembles a genuine IRS site, where they will be asked to fill in an online form.
Although it may look like a legitimate IRS service, the bogus site is not genuine. All information submitted via the counterfeit form can be collected by scammers and used for fraud and identity theft.
If someone claiming to be from the IRS calls or e-mails you about the Economc Stimulus Payments and asks you for a Social Security, bank account or credit card number, it's a scam. The scammers are trying to get your personal and financial information so they can empty your bank account, run up charges on your credit card and more.
Spread this warning among your team members, customers, clients and any others you give more than a hoot about!

A PENNYWISE CUSTOMER SERVICE

Thanks to Pat@klockparker.com (Opus 4) for this suggestion:
Come May 12, the USPS will raise first class mail rates to $0.42, necessitating the addition of a one-cent stamp to the old 41-centers.
An inexpensive goodwill builder would be to lay in a supply of one-cent stamps and enclose a few of them in outgoing mail, together with a reminder of the forthcoming rate hike.
That same reminder could note that "Forever" stamps can be bought BEFORE May 12 at the old 41-cent rate as insurance against the sure-as-God-made-green apples price increases in the future.
Also, have some penny paste-ons in hand to use as handouts while making contacts.
Make good cents?

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

Don't let it upset you if attendees at your sales meeting occasionally glance at their watches, but you should consider wrapping things up ASAP when one of them shakes it to make sure it's still working!

THE GOOSE AND THE GOLDEN EGG

When the "going" gets tough, too many managers cut back on educational items in the budget.
That's like dieting to avoid hunger.
When conditions change, the situation demands not only training of newcomers, but REtraining those who have forgotten (or never knew) how to survive and prosper under new (more often recycled) rules of engagement.
Your people can't do better than they know how, and one of your top priorities should be making sure that the necessary know-how is readily available and constantly delivered to them.
Education is not an expense, but an investment in the future; it is also the goose that laid those golden eggs during your team's past successes!
HINT: Check out "The Real World Of Sellig Real Estate" at www.joeklock.com)

DON'T JUST "HAVE" A GOOD DAY

With due apologies to Snow White, wishing WON'T make it so!
"Have a good day" has become one of the more common parting comments in polite society, but it ignores an important fact of business life.
Good days, like the luck of the draw, may just "happen" for reasons beyond our control, but we are not powerless victims of unforeseeable happenstances.
There are, according to an old saying, three types of people in the world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who, after the happenstances have occurred, haven't a clue about what DID happen.
While you and your team members have to play the cards that are dealt by "whatever," it's your job to sell them on this rock-solid principle:
Selling it's a CONTACT sport!
They can choose, as many are now doing, to merely loiter in the market place, hoping for an accidental collision with success, and/or enviously observing the success of others and/or bitterly mourning the better days of yore.
But they can also choose - and you must constantly remind them of this - to MAKE things happen by seeking out and getting in touch with ready, willing and able buyers and sellers.
Scarce they might be these days, but they CAN be found and encouraged to seize the opportunities that always exist, regardless of market conditions.
Tell your people to "MAKE it a great day" by asking for leads from every single person they can contact, by any and all means available to them.
The harder they work at that, the luckier they'll get!

GET INTO THE NEWS!

Ever wonder why certain competitors seem to get so much free space in the local print media and/or time on the air? Wonder no more!
They are in the news not only because they are making news, but because they're also spoon-feeding it (sometimes shoveling it) to the media.
Readers and listeners are interested in business conditions, trends and predictions that might impact their own futures.
If you or someone in your company has done, is doing or plans to do something unique (i.e., unlike what everybody else is doing), that’s NEWS - and it may be news that's fit to print.
Especially these days, improved sales figures, profits or production, either in hard numbers or percentages, are grist for the publicity mill - but don’t wait for editors or news directors to call you for the glad tidings. Send press releases to them.
Your opinion as an expert in your field can also form the basis of a news item, but not if the reporters have to guess about what you think. It's up to you to TELL 'em.
"But what," you may ask, "if I have no more writing talent than the average graffiti artist?" Here’s what to do:
Check out local (preferably neighborhood) publications and note the names of by-lined writers. Call one of them and ask about their willingness to "ghost write" your press releases, based on information that you supply to them. (The cost will be relatively modest, as these folks tend to be underpaid and usually willing to moonlight.)
One way or t'other, grab as much "free space" as possible - and be persistent.
You can expect your rate of success to be low at first, but the payoffs are worth the effort - and the price is right!
One more thing: Each time an item appears in print, make copies to be used as envelope stuffers and/or (if they're really good ones) special mailings or e-mailings to your spheres of influence.
Writing your own press clippings may seem a bit narcissisti, but as baseball great Dizzy Dean once said, "It ain’t braggin' if ya done done it!"
Oh, and concentrate on POSITIVE news; as you may have noticed, newsfolks don't need any help in broadcasting and forecasting doom and gloom!

A PARTING SHOT

One way to succeed is by making hay with the grass that's growing under your competitors' feet. While they're wringing their hands, go out and ring some bells